The Conners
Let's get the most obvious one out of the way first. As the direct continuation of Roseanne, The Conners carries the exact same DNA, characters, and setting. Following the off-screen death of the family matriarch, the series finds Dan, Jackie, Darlene,
and the rest of the family navigating life, loss, and constant financial hurdles in Lanford. It maintains the original's commitment to tackling contemporary issues—from gig economy struggles to political division—all through the lens of a family that uses humor as its primary survival tool. It’s less a replacement for Roseanne and more of its next chapter, proving the Conner family's story is as resilient and relevant as ever.
The Middle
If you loved the Midwestern, working-class heart of Roseanne but could do with a little less cynicism, meet the Hecks. Set in the fictional town of Orson, Indiana, The Middle follows Frankie (Patricia Heaton) and Mike (Neil Flynn) as they raise their three delightfully quirky children. Created by former Roseanne writers, the show shares a focus on the mundane absurdities of family life on a tight budget—the forgotten homework, the failing appliances, the endless drives. While its tone is generally lighter and more optimistic, The Middle never shies away from the financial anxiety and quiet desperation that comes with just trying to get by. It’s a warm, hilarious, and deeply relatable successor to the Conner legacy.
Mom
While not centered on a traditional nuclear family, Mom brilliantly captures Roseanne’s spirit of working-class women facing down life’s toughest challenges with biting humor. The show follows Christy (Anna Faris) and her mother Bonnie (Allison Janney), a dysfunctional duo of recovering addicts trying to rebuild their lives in Napa, California. What starts as a standard sitcom evolves into a powerful and hilarious exploration of addiction, recovery, poverty, and relapse. The heart of the show is the circle of women in an Alcoholics Anonymous group who become a found family, supporting each other through unimaginable hardships with sarcasm and unwavering loyalty. It’s a masterclass in blending serious themes with laugh-out-loud comedy.
Shameless (U.S.)
If you ever felt Roseanne could have been darker and more chaotic, then Shameless is your show. The series follows the Gallagher family, a scrappy, fiercely loyal clan of six kids navigating life on the South Side of Chicago with their brilliant but hopelessly alcoholic father, Frank. It takes the working-class struggle of the Conners and pushes it to the extreme, tackling poverty, gentrification, addiction, and mental illness with a raw and unapologetic honesty. While often a drama, its humor is jet-black and its characters are unforgettable. At its core, Shameless is a story of survival and the unbreakable, if unconventional, bonds of a family holding itself together against all odds.
Bob's Burgers
An animated sitcom might seem like an odd choice, but hear me out. Bob's Burgers perfectly captures the soul of a loving, working-class family that is perpetually on the brink of financial disaster. Bob Belcher runs a small, struggling burger joint with his eternally optimistic wife Linda and their three eccentric kids. Nearly every episode revolves around their financial precarity—a late rent payment, a scheme to attract more customers, a disastrous catering gig. Despite the constant stress, the Belchers genuinely love and support each other’s weirdness. The show replaces Roseanne’s cynicism with a quirky optimism, but the core theme of family as a team against a world of economic uncertainty is a perfect match.
